Dual citizenship eligibility?

[Scyros]

Question for all you Immigration experts. I am a US citizen (born in the US) to an English mother who was born in the UK. Both of my mother's parents were also born in the UK. I wanted to apply for dual citizenship so I can live and study (master’s degree) in London for a number of years. Am I eligible for UK citizenship? Dual citizenship? If so, were do I go to fill out the necessary paperwork? Thanks very much for any help!

[joh118]

Question for all you Immigration experts. I am a US citizen (born in the US) to an English mother who was born in the UK. Both of my mother's parents were also born in the UK. I wanted to apply for dual citizenship so I can live and study (master’s degree) in London for a number of years. Am I eligible for UK citizenship? Dual citizenship? If so, were do I go to fill out the necessary paperwork? Thanks very much for any help!

You say your mother was born in the UK but is she actually british? ie. does she have british Citizenship?

we need to know the year of your birth, if it was on 1983, then we need to know your exact date of birth.

[joh118]

If born AFTER 1 Jan 1983:

Only one parent needs to be British otherwise than by descent - either the father or the mother.

As a general rule, an unmarried father cannot pass on British citizenship automatically in the case of children born before 1 July 2006. Although, if the parents marry subsequent to the birth, the child normally will become a British citizen at that point if legitimated by the marriage and the father was eligible to pass on British citizenship. Further, if the unmarried British father was domiciled in a country that treated (at the date of birth of the child born before 1 July 2006) a child born to unmarried parents in the same way as a child born to married parents, then the father passed on British citizenship automatically to his child, even though the child was born before 1 July 2006 to unmarried parents. Such countries include Jamaica and New Zealand,Brazil and Hungary.

Failing the above, the child can be registered as British if it would have been British if parents were married and application is made before the child is 18.

Where the parent is a British citizen by descent additional requirements apply. In the most common scenario, the parent is normally expected to have lived in the UK for three years and apply for the child to be registered as a British citizen within 12 months of the birth.

[Scyros]

Thanks very much for such quick replies. My mother is a full UK citizen, born to two married UK citizens and lived in the UK until she was 20 . I was born Sept. 25, 1982. I was looking at the "Immigration Act of 1981" and saw that in 2002 it was amended by the "Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002" to give children born overseas, to mothers with UK citizenship all the way back to 1961 a path to UK citizenship. So I know I am eligible for some kind of UK citizenship, I just don't know which kind or where to go to start the process. Any help would be much appreciated.

[John]

Scyros, you need to read this UKBA webpage, which gives you lots of information.

I sure you will agree ..... good news for you!

[Ben]

Hi Scyros,

From what you have said, it would appear that you were born a UK national.

As a UK national, you are entitled to apply for a British citizen passport and / or a UK National ID Card (if resident in the UK).

If you are currently in the US, you can apply at the nearest British mission for either a British passport or a Right of Abode endorsement in your US passport. If you choose the latter and you subsequently move to the UK, you can apply for a UK National ID Card which will enable you to move and reside throughout the EEA / Switizerland passport-free.

[JAJ]

Hi Scyros,

From what you have said, it would appear that you were born a UK national.

As a UK national, you are entitled to apply for a British citizen passport and / or a UK National ID Card (if resident in the UK).

If you are currently in the US, you can apply at the nearest British mission for either a British passport or a Right of Abode endorsement in your US passport. If you choose the latter and you subsequently move to the UK, you can apply for a UK National ID Card which will enable you to move and reside throughout the EEA / Switizerland passport-free.

No, she was born in 1982 so not automatically a British citizen. However, she is eligible for registration as a British citizen.

All that said, being a British citizen means she won't need a student visa to study in the UK but she is still liable for overseas fees because she will not have lived in the UK/EEA for 3 years.

[Ben]

Apologies!

[joh118]

yes, it looks like you are eligible to register (only by a couple of months! lucky!)

once you get approved, you will need to attend a British Citizenship Ceremony at your local/nearest British Embassy. only then would you be able to apply for a passport or get the "right of abode" stamp in your US passport.

Remember that this process can take a long time so if you have any urgent travel plans just think before you submit.

[John]

yes, it looks like you are eligible to register (only by a couple of months! lucky!)

Lucky? Indeed if your think about it, their situation would have been better had Mum been able to hang on for another 3-and-a-bit months, before giving birth.